Location: Guangzhou
Top Things to do in Guangzhou
Top Restaurants in Guangzhou
Countries
Things to do in Guangzhou, Guangdong: The Best Museums
China’s third-largest city is the capital of Guangdong Province and a thriving commercial center. Its location on the Pearl River and proximity to Hong Kong has made Guangzhou a strategic port for centuries. Glimpse old temples and gleaming steel towers on an architectural tour. Visit one of four Chimelong theme parks for thrills and chills. Once called Canton, Guangzhou is considered the home of traditional (read Cantonese) “Chinese food.” Foodies will find more restaurants per capita here than anywhere else in China.
Restaurants in Guangzhou
1. Guangzhou Oriental Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 8 reviews
Guangzhou Oriental Museum is located within The Asian Games Cultural Village in Guangzhou, China. With a mountain aft and a river flowing across her bow, beauty surrounds her. Anchoring the Cultural Village, she stands proud as one of the ‘Key Cultural Developments’ completed during the Asian Games 2010, as decreed by the Chinese Government.
Reviewed By DebbyAB
This museum is easy to find, and worthwhile to tour. The displays and their corresponding explanations are educational as well as a delight to the eye and mind. The friendly and knowledgeable staff offer a comfortable and culturally accurate tour of the varied artistic and utilitarian pieces of various dynasties. You will leave this museum feeling informed and engaged to 5,000 + years of Chinese culture. Be sure to ask Museum Director, Matthew, for a great cup of his coffee!
2. Cantonese Opera Art Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 5 reviews
Reviewed By douglasm62 - Guangzhou, China
SWMBO wasn’t keen on another visit (Reviewed April 2019) to this wonderful museum but the attraction of the numerous small shops in the neighbourhood was too much for her to resist. This time we took the #66 bus to the bus’s terminus in FengYuan Road, came out of the terminus and turned left, at which point SWMBO became lost. We crossed the road and walked to the intersection with BaoYun Road. We turned right and walked until we came to its junction with Longin Road and turned left, after a few metres we saw signs to the museum. SWMBO now recognized the small shops and was again content. After a few minor diversions for retail therapy we crossed into Enning Road which is actually a continuation of Longin Road, and were soon at the museum. I still needed my passport and SWMBO her ID card to get into the site. We strolled past the ponds and pavilions which unlike last year are now open and down the escalator into the museum. SWMBO found a comfy bench to peruse her social media while I wandered around the museum. No discernable changes from last year, but still tremendously interesting and informative with most of the captions in both Chinese and English. After an hour I joined SWMBO to eat an orange before we ventured outside to explore the now open pavilions. All are very nice examples of contemporary Chinese craftsmanship and design. On the second floor there are a couple of ‘twee’ shops selling artifacts, where I thought the prices were telephone numbers! By the way, we could have drunk orange tea at ¥98 each, which didn’t impress SWMBO because on Monday we’d bought orange tea from the tea market for just a fraction on this price. As we strolled out, we looked at a painted diorama of the site. SWMBO commented it looked a very old view, I peered more closely and observed a couple of people on what appeared to be roller skates! There noted the banana trees growing which we’d missed on the way in. Then we strolled past more ‘twee’ shops and a cafes and eventually crossed the bridge and turned left and walked along a narrow lane to Enning Road. Then we retraced our steps to the bus terminus. On the way we stopped to admire some of the wonderful old buildings. See if you can spot Guangzhou’s very own Manneken Pis, in fact there’s four of them in Longin Road and you have to look up to see them from the east side of the road.
3. Chen Clan Ancestral Hall-Folk Craft Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,095 reviews
A must-see attraction, with a history of more than 100 years and still in its original shape. The buildings are famous for their exquisite and mythical decorations, such as the brick carvings of historic figures. The temple also functions as a museum under the auspices of Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, exhibiting a variety of folk arts and crafts.
Reviewed By Ailton007 - Seattle, United States
Great intro into Guangdong Folk Art. Traditional Chinese architecture and decoration, beautiful ornaments and ceramics on display and the building / temple as such is a sight itself. We started our day here and there's lots of other places nearby to check out, all easy to reach by taxi and some even on foot.
4. Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 434 reviews
Reviewed By SeeMoreLiveMore - Singapore, Singapore
An interesting place showcasing the history of the greater region before it became a part of China proper. Museum has many artefacts and is well-presented. The mausoleum on the grounds is simpler, but nonetheless, a good visit paired with the museum.
5. Liwan Museum
6. Guangdong Museum Of Chinese Nationals Residing Abroad
7. Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs Museum
8. Guangzhou Museum
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 154 reviews
Perched on top of Yuexiu Hill, this five-story tower (also known as the Five-Story Pagoda) was built by Zhu Liangzu, one of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in testimony of his power.
Reviewed By PradeepA365 - New Delhi, India
It is a five storey very old structure and housed museum. One can imagine the past about Guangzhou after seeing this. Must visit for every enthusiastic traveller.
9. Guangdong Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 32 reviews
This art museum features 30,000 hand-size clay figures in a miniature Asian Field.
Reviewed By InnaYYZ - Toronto, Canada
There is always something new and interesting to view in the galleries of this modern looking building. The main exhibits are of modern art and sculptures. Admission was free, but I had to show my passport.
10. Guangzhou Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 36 reviews
Reviewed By douglasm62 - Guangzhou, China
To be honest SWMBO and I didn’t intend to visit this museum, but it was well worth it. I suggested we go to the southern end of LuHu Park (TA reviewed) as we hadn’t been there for years, and then walk back along the road and boardwalk towards YunTai Gardens (TA reviewed). After lunch, we walked to the bus stop at the end of the road and caught the #245 bus which took us all the way past LuHu Lake and dropped us off at LuHu Square. This is a rather large paved area where the locals meet for communal dancing, singing, playing chess, and chatting. The first thing I noticed was the large number of sculptures doted around the square. One or two I’d expect but there were a couple of dozen. Then I saw over in the far corner tucked away behind some trees a very nice looking brown and white modernish building. Interesting! We’ve passed the square many times over the years in the bus, but I’d never noticed this building, so time to investigate. Over the door was written GuangZhou Museum of Art. Now we knew what it was! Of course, SWMBO said she’d know all along what it was. Yeah! The building looked rather inviting, it was another hot day, so anything with the promise of air conditioning is inviting. Free admission and no ID check but our bags were scanned. I suggest you always take your passport to attractions as you never know when they’ll check who you are. Next to the security check is a rack of leaflets about the museum and some are in English and very, very good. They make nice souvenirs. There’s also a notice in English that guided tours are available a couple of times a day, but they have to be booked the day before. No price, but ¥100 would be appreciated. There’s also audio tours and new to me, WeChat guides. Note: Get the WeChat (WeiXin in China) app on your phone before you come to China and become familiar with it as it’s used by everybody for nearly everything. If you can get some RMB in your WeChat wallet. Cash isn’t king anymore. Anyway, in we went. The building is very spacious and the corridors circuitous. There are lots of signs and information in English. SWMBO gravitated towards the calligraphy exhibition which she thought was wonderful mainly because she can read the old script and understands what the characters and combination of characters mean, so appreciates how the brush strokes enhance the meaning. There’s a lot of examples. Read all about them in the free booklet. We strolled in the garden where the sculptures are more to my liking. Of course, the fish in the ponds were treated to the fish food from my man-bag. Then it was back inside and onto the second floor. There’s a nice hall about the violinist Ma ZiCong and another displaying the cartoons of Liao BingXiong which SWMBO thought were brilliant and for their time more than a bit risqué. Another nice souvenir handout available at reception. Be prepared for a lot of walking but the building is comfortably cool. There’s a lift and plenty of benches to rest and enjoy the small sculptures dotted around the museum. Toilets are nice and clean. I didn’t see a café but there’s a small shop selling books, calligraphy brushes and other bits and bobs for artists. All-in-all a pleasant way to spend a hot afternoon before walking back as we orgingally inteneded towards YunTai Garden for a delicious evening meal in one of the restaurants by the entrance.
